Why the Heck Are Minions in Peter Jackson's Mortal Engines?

NYCC was treated to the first 25 minutes of the upcoming Mortal Engines, which featured a surprise cameo from Despicable Me's Minions. Yes, that sounds a bit odd, but it actually works really well. The film looks truly stunning from the promotional material that has been released so far, and according to reports from NYCC attendees, the first minutes of the movie are action-packed, leaving the trailers in the dust of the mobile cities. But how do the Minions appear in Mortal Engines? There are slight SPOILERS ahead for the movie, so read ahead at your own risk.

As it turns out, the Minions from the Despicable Me franchise are even more valuable in the future than they are now. Mortal Engines takes place far into the future after the Sixty Minute War decimated the world as we know it, making any artifacts from the past priceless. The Minions appear as a statue and are referred to as "American Deities" in the film. The humorous nod to the Minions is actually pretty spot-on, considering the popularity of those little yellow hell raisers.

The rest of the opening footage of Mortal Engines describes how the new world came to be. The Earth is practically destroyed, leading to cities on wheels that exist in a Mad Max-style world on a much bigger level. Epic chase scenes give way to some beautiful visual effects that have been praised by lucky fans who have seen the opening 25 minutes of footage. Other than the Minions and special effects, the opening scenes have been praised for how much action is packed into such a short amount of time.

Peter Jackson initially had a hard time dealing with the massive cities on wheels in Mortal Engines. He eventually got over his issues, as evidenced by the trailers for the film, but it was a huge undertaking, according to Jackson. The director had this to say about bringing Mortal Engines to the big screen.

"Just showing the sheer size of these pillager cities. Like London is like the size of 12 aircraft carriers put together. It's a size that there's nothing to compare it to. And these wheels rolling along. How do you make this thing look as big as it really is? How do you let the audience know it's this massive? What shots do you use, what angles do you use? That was actually surprisingly difficult, to imagine the size of these massive cities."

Mortal Engines is only adapting the first of Phillip Reeves' four books, which means that we could end up seeing a lot more movies in the future if this one does well. The film hits theaters on December 14th, so we'll soon see how well it does at the box office. However, with Peter Jackson's name attached and the stunning visuals, it's sure to be a hit. Sadly, the 25 minutes of opening footage was a NYCC exclusive and obviously has not been released online. You can check out the latest, and final, trailer for Mortal Engines below, thanks to the Universal Pictures YouTube channel.